The invention relates to nasal breathing masks.
The invention relates to a nasal breathing mask according to the preamble of Claim 1.
Nasal breathing masks are used, inter alia, to supply respiratory air primarily for therapeutic purposes, such as for example for treating disturbed sleep accompanied by apnea.
Conventional breathing masks consist of a partially elastic mask part, which is anatomically shaped in order to be adapted to the patient, and a mask-holding part, to which the straps of the breathing mask are attached in order to press the mask part onto the nose. The respiratory air can be supplied through a breathing tube via a hose connection on the mask-holding part. In this case, the respiratory air is usually taken from a unit which generates superatmospheric pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,693 has disclosed a nasal breathing mask having a mask part and a mask-holding part which is connected to at least one strap for positioning the breathing mask on the nose of a user and at the top end is connected to an elongate tube, which in turn is connected to a hose connection for a breathing hose and on which a forehead plate, which is connected to a forehead-plate mount, is axially adjustable. The axial adjustment is in this case effected by means of vertical displacement of the forehead-plate mount, which is designed as a sleeve, on the elongate tube.
Furthermore, in this nasal breathing mask which is known from the prior art, it is possible to compensate for the distance between the patient""s forehead and nose in the frontal plane. For this purpose, the breathing mask from the prior art provides for the forehead-plate mount to be designed as a distance-adjustment device. This is achieved by the fact that arms which are rotatably attached to the elongate tube can be releasably latched into attachment openings provided on the rear side of the forehead-plate mount. To make it easy to adjust the breathing mask to different forehead/nose anatomies, it is sufficient for the distance from forehead plate to mask part to be adjusted as a result of the arms being released from a latching position on the forehead-plate mount and secured again in a different latching position, with the angle formed between the arms being adjusted.
However, this solution has the fundamental drawback that designing the distance-adjustment mechanism on the forehead-plate mount in this way leads to a structurally complex forehead plate. The result is considerable production costs if the component, as is customary, is produced using an injection-molding process. Furthermore, the device, which has to be continuously latched and unlatched, has proven unwieldy. Particularly when adapting to the anatomy of the patient, a procedure of this type has proven extremely uncomfortable. A further drawback of this solution is that repeated use of the distance-adjustment device produced in this way leads to wear which may cause the latching lugs formed integrally on the arms to break off, rendering the forehead-plate mount or forehead plate of the nasal breathing mask unusable.
Working on the basis of these drawbacks which are known from the prior art, the present invention is based on the object of providing a nasal breathing mask which allows simple adjustment to the anatomy of the patient and ensures that the distance-adjustment device functions perfectly without technically complex means having to be used.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by means of a breathing mask according to Claim 1.
Advantageous configurations of the breathing mask according to the invention are given in Claims 2 to 18.
The nasal breathing mask according to the invention having the characterizing features of Claim 1 offers the advantage that the operating comfort when adjusting the breathing mask to the anatomy of the patient is increased while, at the same time, the mask part has a greater freedom of movement with respect to the forehead-plate mount.
In its most simple configuration, the nasal breathing mask according to the invention has a tube between the mask-holding part and the connection for a breathing or intermediate hose. The tube has a region which is designed and arranged in such a way that the mask part can be moved toward the user with respect to the forehead-plate mount, for example as a result of this region being made more flexible than the tube. In other words, the tube may comprise two partial regions with rigid materials properties and a partial region which lies between them and has materials properties which are more flexible than the rigid partial regions. This can be effected, for example as a function of the material used, by a corresponding reduction in diameter and/or reduction in the wall thickness of the tube, as is sufficiently well known.
In its axial extent, the more flexible region is designed in such a way that it offers the possibility of holding the mask part so that it can be moved toward the nose of the user with respect to the forehead-plate mount. The mask part which has been bent onto the user in this way is held by means of corresponding straps which are guided behind the head of the user and are attached to eyelets of the mask part.
In an advantageous configuration of the nasal breathing mask according to the invention, this region can be produced as a result of the tube being designed with at least one airtight ball joint which allows a rotary movement toward the user. Preferably, two ball joints can be arranged over the course of the tube, so that significantly improved adaptation to the patient""s anatomy is ensured by means of two degrees of freedom.
According to another advantageous configuration of the invention, the more flexible region comprises a bellows which, as a component of the tube, can be bent in the manner of a drinking straw.
According to yet another advantageous configuration of the nasal breathing mask, the tube is separate from the mask-holding part, the latter bearing a corresponding tube connection piece at the top. The tube and the tube connection piece are connected to one another via a flexurally elastic hose.
Preferably, the flexurally elastic hose itself has a region which is more flexible than the remainder of the hose body, as can be formed, in a manner known per se as a function of the material used for the hose, for example silicone, by a corresponding reduction in diameter and/or reduction in the wall thickness of the hose.
According to the invention, in this case both the tube and the tube connection piece have a sealing bead or a sealing lip, over which the flexurally elastic hose can be pushed so as to form an airtight connection and can be released again in a very simple way.
In order to provide sufficiently great possible compensation for the distance between the forehead or the forehead plate and the nose or the mask part, on the one hand, and to provide the distance-adjustment mechanism defined by the more flexible region with a rigidity which is sufficient for the nasal breathing mask to be used while the patient is sleeping, on the other hand, it is sufficient if the distance which is covered by the flexurally elastic hose between the tube connection piece of the mask-holding part and the tube or the more flexible region of the hose itself is only a few millimeters. By way of example, a distance of even 2 mm is sufficient.
It becomes clear that the embodiments of the invention, compared to the solution which is known from the prior art, provide measures which in design terms are significantly more simple in order to achieve a satisfactory distance-adjustment mechanism. Not only does this considerably reduce production costs, but also, on account of the significantly lower mechanical load, it ensures that the nasal breathing mask has a long service life.
Furthermore, a forehead-plate mount, on which in turn a forehead plate is integrally formed, is connected to the elongate tube which has the more flexible region. In this case, the forehead plate and the forehead-plate mount are preferably produced integrally.
In the prior art, the position of the forehead plate relative to the mask part or to the mask-holding part is adapted to different anatomical conditions by vertical displacement relative to the elongate tube. In the nasal breathing mask which is known from the prior art, for this purpose the forehead-plate mount has a sleeve which can be slid along the tube by means of a corresponding frictional fit. However, when adapting to the corresponding anatomies of the patients, a solution of this type is uncomfortable and, moreover, fails to ensure a secure axial position while the patient is sleeping, which, as a result of the patient moving when asleep, eliminates the distance which has been set and therefore, in extreme cases, may cause the mask part to move and become detached, with associated disturbed and restless sleep.
To avoid these drawbacks, according to another advantageous configuration of the nasal breathing mask according to the invention, the possibility of axial adjustment between the forehead-plate mount and the tube is designed as a latching/clamping connection. Further configurations of the latching/clamping connection according to the invention are given in subclaims 9 to 17.